Yemen: Briefing and Consultations*
Tomorrow morning (13 August), the Security Council will hold a briefing on Yemen. The anticipated briefers are UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher.* Closed consultations are scheduled to follow the open briefing.
Yemen has recently experienced a sharp escalation in hostilities between the internationally recognised government backed by Saudi Arabia and the Houthi rebel group backed by Iran. The Houthis took de facto control of the capital Sana’a in 2014, igniting a civil war during which a Saudi-led military coalition attempted to oust the group, with devastating humanitarian consequences. Following a UN-brokered truce in 2022, the political and security situation has been deadlocked. In early July, actions by the Saudi-led coalition to prevent the Houthis from resuming flights between Sana’a and Iran without the Yemeni government’s permission triggered renewed clashes between the parties. (For more information, see the brief on Yemen in our August 2026 Monthly Forecast.)
During the most recent hostilities, the Houthis have described their attacks as retaliation for “large-scale Saudi military mobilisations” within the country and a blockade on Houthi-controlled territory. On 6 August, Houthi strikes on Yemeni government military facilities in the governorates of Hadramout and Marib reportedly killed at least 30 soldiers and injured 15 others. Subsequently, the Houthis targeted the Red Sea port of al-Makha on 9 and 10 August, reportedly killing and wounding dozens of people, including civilians, and causing extensive damage to the port. Additionally, on 10 August, a reported Houthi drone strike in the governorate of Shabwah killed two Yemeni government soldiers and wounded seven others. Retaliatory strikes by Yemeni government forces targeting the Houthis were reported in al-Jawf, Saada, and Marib governorates.
The Houthis have also resumed cross-border strikes against Saudi Arabia for the first time since the 2022 truce. In what they described as retaliation for coalition strikes on Sana’a airport on 13 July, the Houthis struck the airport in the Saudi city of Abha the same day. Later in July, the group also attacked Saudi oil facilities and refineries in Jizan and Yanbu. On 8 August, they claimed another attack on a refinery in Jizan.
Additionally, on 20 July, the Houthis announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, targeting Saudi-linked vessels transiting the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The Secretary-General’s most recent monthly report on Houthi attacks on merchant and commercial vessels in the Red Sea (S/2026/667), circulated to Council members on Monday (10 August), confirmed Houthi attacks against three vessels in the preceding month: the Saudi-flagged “Encelia” on 22 July and “NCC Ghazal” on 28 July, and the Dominica-flagged “Daisy” on 5 August. In a 5 August statement, the Houthis claimed to have targeted eight Saudi vessels, but not all the attacks have been independently confirmed.
The most recent incident took place yesterday (11 August), when the Houthis reportedly launched multiple strikes against the Tanzanian-flagged vessel “Tihamah” as it transited Bab al-Mandab, killing at least six people, including two members of the Yemeni Coast Guard sent to rescue the crew after the first strike. The Houthis claimed that the vessel was carrying Saudi military equipment.
At tomorrow’s meeting, Grundberg is expected to brief Council members on these developments and emphasise that heightened military activity is increasing the risk of a return to full-scale conflict in Yemen. He may express concern that the current escalation is endangering the gains and relative calm achieved by the 2022 truce and call on the parties to exercise maximum restraint, de-escalate, and re-engage in good faith discussions towards a sustainable diplomatic solution under UN auspices. He may update members on his efforts to engage with Yemeni parties, regional actors, and international partners to this end and express concern about the impact of the hostilities on civilians, expanding on statements issued on 7 and 10 August, respectively.
Council members are likely to reiterate messages in line with their 7 August press statement on Yemen, which was issued in response to the unauthorised flights that landed in Houthi-controlled territory in July. The statement expressed Council members’ concern at “heightened tensions” in the country and underscored the importance of avoiding escalatory actions that could jeopardise peace efforts or threaten international peace and security. Echoing the statement tomorrow, several Council members are likely to underscore their commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of Yemen while also stressing their support for Grundberg’s efforts to facilitate a “negotiated, inclusive, Yemeni-led and Yemeni-owned political settlement”.
Most Council members are also likely to strongly condemn Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia and the group’s resumption of attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Several members are expected to stress that the maintenance of maritime security and freedom of navigation through the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea is indispensable to the global economy, particularly at a time when the conflict between Iran and the US is disrupting the flow of goods and energy through the Strait of Hormuz.
Some Council members may express support for military operations to safeguard security in the Red Sea, such as the European Union’s (EU) EUNAVFOR ASPIDES, which was launched in February 2024 in response to the Houthi’s initial attacks in the Red Sea, as well as the Saudi-led Multinational Maritime Defence Alliance, which was announced on 30 July. The alliance comprises Saudi Arabia, the internationally recognised Yemeni government, and 12 other regional stakeholders and Red Sea littoral states, including Council members Bahrain, Pakistan, and Somalia.
Council members will likely differ, however, in how they link the recent escalation in Yemen to the wider regional conflict in the Gulf. Some members, such as Bahrain, the US, and European members, may condemn Iran’s support for the Houthis as a destabilising factor that undermines regional peace efforts, including in Yemen. By contrast, China and Russia are more likely to stress that the situation in Yemen can only be normalised through a comprehensive diplomatic resolution to the conflicts in the Gulf and in Gaza, and that increased military and economic pressure on the Houthis risks greater escalation in Yemen and in the Red Sea.
Speakers are also expected to highlight the continuing humanitarian crisis in Yemen. They may stress that a large-scale resurgence of conflict could further worsen humanitarian conditions in the country, with immense implications for Yemeni civilians, and call on all parties to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure. Fletcher is likely to warn that food insecurity in the country is deepening—with half the population in government-controlled areas experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity and over 5.5 million people facing crisis conditions—compounded by conflict and insecurity, economic collapse, and acute funding gaps. He may add that the UN recently allocated $10 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund to help scale up and sustain life-saving services, while stressing that the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Yemen remains critically underfunded at 20 percent coverage.
Some Council members are also expected to highlight the disproportionate impact of the humanitarian crisis on women and girls and the particular challenges they face, including hunger and malnutrition, displacement, and gender-based violence.
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**Post-script (13 August, 2:15 pm): An earlier version of this story indicated that a civil society briefer was also expected to brief at today’s meeting. The story has been updated to reflect that only UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher briefed. Following the meeting, the civil society representative who had been expected to brief held a stake-out.
